Hawkeye regales his father with another tale of Korean insanity, this time on a tape recorder. It starts with a bus full of wounded UN soldiers, one of whom is a Turk even Klinger thinks is crazy. Refusing to stay down, no matter how much they drug him, the Turkish Rasputin wakes up before his surgery and escapes. Next, a U.S. soldier pulls up in a jeep and demands, at gunpoint, that his sergeant be taken out of the jeep and given immediate top priority. Colonel Blanche, Commander of Luxumbourg forces, arrives looking for a Lt. Henri Batiste LeClerq, only Radar says LeClerq is dead and his body is missing. Frank and Trapper operate at gunpoint, Hawkeye tries to stop the murderous Turk on the loose, and finally, Henry arranges a memorial service with a surprise ending.
Attention, attention! This episode provides a Full, Rich list of tropes:
- A Father to His Men: Lieutenant Smith is this to extremes, holding up the unit so he can get his sergeant operated on.
- The Luxembourg General who comes to the 4077 to visit his wounded man.
- Always Someone Better: Klinger is quick to admit the Turkish soldier is crazier than he is.
- And Starring: Sirri Murad (The Turkish soldier) is credited as this in the Closing Credits.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: LeClerq joins the assembly for his own memorial, not realizing it's for him.
- Black Comedy: When the Turkish soldier steals a syringe of sedative, Henry tries to get it away from him, only for the needle to get stuck in his palm.Frank: Mayday! Mayday!Henry: Ninety nine...ninety eight...ninety sevenHenry passes outHawkeye: Good night, sweet prince.
- Blood Knight: The Turkish soldier's only goal is to kill as many Chinese soldiers as he can, even with a broken soldier. Being sedated several times doesn't curb his bloodlust, and when Hawkeye promises to return him to the front he acts like he just made a new best friend.
- Blunt "Yes": When Frank tries to assert his authority over Lieutenant Smith, the major asks if he really is threatening him with his rifle. This trope is the lieutenant's answer.
- Break Them by Talking: Hawkeye tries to do this with Lieutenant Smith. Smith stops to listen and, in the end, responds with understanding that the doctors have to follow procedure when it comes to prioritizing the wounded. However he ignores it and tells Hawkeye to get started on treating Sergeant Bryan
- Brick Joke: Henri Batiste LeClerq, the missing Luxembourg lieutenant.
- Early in the episode, Hawkeye tries to get Lt. Smith to calm down by talking about how the war is different for doctors than it is for front-line soldiers. It doesn't work. Later, he tries to get the Turkish Soldier to calm down by giving him the same speech. It still doesn't work. Hawkeye even lampshades it.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Henry, Radar and Frank all get terrified of Lieutenant Smith.
- Chewing the Scenery: The Turkish soldier
- Deadpan Snarker:
- When Hawkeye asks Trapper to say hello to his dad on the tape recorder, Trapper justs says:Hello, Trapper
- Hawkeye and Trapper respond this way to Frank Burns' hammy demands to talk about a bus driver who has just brought in a batch of wounded.Frank: Driver! Where's the driver? I want the driver of this bus, chop chop!Trapper: What do you want the driver for, Frank?Frank: I wanna know what we got on this bus!Hawkeye: Migrant workers, Frank. They came to pick the lettuce crop.
- When a terrified Frank informs Henry that Lieutenant Smith is threatening people with a rifle, Hawkeye makes fun of the situation by suggesting the gun probably doesn't have any water in it.
- Trapper and Frank's farewells to Hawkeye's dad on the tape recording.Trapper: Hello dad. Your son's no good.Frank: Oh, I know. And then that thing squirts water in my face.
- When Hawkeye asks Trapper to say hello to his dad on the tape recorder, Trapper justs says:
- Death Glare: Henry gives Radar one when the corporal reports that Lieutenant LeClerq has gone missing after the lieutenant's commanding officer has arrived.
- Dirty Coward / Lovable Coward: Neither Frank or Klinger are willing to confiscate the Turkish soldier's knife from the man.Klinger: Major, you wanna take away that knife of his?Frank: I'm not interested in mock heroism.Klinger: I'll settle for the real thing, sir.
- Frank leaves Radar to deal with the angry lieutenant and dashes off to Henry Blake for help.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: During his early narration, Hawkeye explains what triage is to his father; he later adds that his father had only read one book in his life. In later seasons, it is established that Daniel Pierce is a doctor himself, so he would likely know what triage is and read rather a few books (it's later established that Last of the Mohicans is his favorite book, not the only one he ever read).
- Entertainingly Wrong: Henry is of the opinion that Frank is over-exaggerating about Lieutenant Smith's behaviour, believing that no one just walks in and sticks up a MASH unit at gunpoint. He's proven wrong when Smith stalks into the room.
- Gargle Blaster: Trapper's martini recipe is "five parts gin and one moment's silence for the vermouth".
- Go Through Me: Frank tells Klinger that he will only get a Section Eight over his dead body.
- Hot Potato: Hinted at with the tape recorder. The thief who stole it in the first place gave it to a nurse as a carnal bribe, the nurse gave it to Father Mulcahy in a gin-induced fit of remorse, and Father Mulcahy gave it to Hawkeye because he didn't want anyone to think he was taping confessions.
- Hypocrite: Frank loudly proclaims that giving in to Smith's demands is the height of cowardice.
- I Am Very British: Trapper uses this while reiterating for Hawkeye's recorded message his new gin recipe.
- Immune to Drugs: According to Klinger, the Turkish soldier had been pumped with a whole drugstore of sedatives before being sent to the 4077. He remains wide awake.
- Implacable Man: Lieutenant Smith. The Turkish soldier as well, but not as dangerously.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Klinger means well, Frank is correct in pointing out that he needs the paperwork about the wounded as soon as Klinger arrives.
- Knight of Cerebus: Scenes with Lt. Smith are much, much more serious than the corresponding scenes with Murad or the Luxemburgisch
- Malaproper: Towards the end of the episode, Henry Blake frequently mixes up words regarding the missing Lieutenant LeClerq.
- No Longer with Us: Played with mightily. When Col. Blanche, of the Luxemburgisch contingent comes to visit his wounded soldier, Lieutenant LeClerc, he's informed that they lost him. Saddened, he declares it the "fortunes of war", but would like to bring the body back with him for proper burial in Luxembourg. He's then informed that not only had they lost him, but they lost him, as in they have no clue where his body is. That, Blanche opines, is not the fortunes of war, and adds to the general chaos of the day by demanding the camp turn itself upside down to find him. Turns out LeClerc was only Not Quite Dead, went unrecognized because he was comatose and in a full body cast, and manages to wake up and walk over to his CO while in the aforementioned full cast when the camp plays the Luxemburgisch national anthem in his memory.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Hawkeye once suggested to General MacArthur in a letter that the Korean War be declared a draw. MacArthur replied by sending him an autographed picture.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Frank and Klinger are startled when a "sandwich case" is brought in and a knife suddenly protrudes through the top layer of cloth.
- Radar and Frank both panic when Lieutenant Smith points a gun at the major's chestRadar: Sir, that's one of those new guns can shoot thirty corporals a second.
- The Turkish soldier wakes up in the operating room and grabs a syringe of sedatives (probably morphine) from Mr Kwang, eliciting a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the surgical staff.
- The Reveal: It is not shown or hinted at all until the last five minutes of the episode, but Lieutenant Smith was also wounded in the same skirmish he had brought Sergeant Bryan from.
- During the memorial ceremony for Lt. le Clerc, the man in question wakes up in post op, revealing that he was alive but wounded and unconscious (with no dog tags to identify him).
- Running Gag: After Col. Blanche arrives, Henry keeps nervously referencing the fact that they lost Lt. LeClerq's body.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Klinger prefers to worry about the wounded patients he has driven to the hospital rather than deal with the paperwork Major Burns is demanding of him.Frank: Where's your S-47 manifest and D-21 triplicate? You should've given those to me immediately.Klinger: Sir, these men are hurt and bleeding.
- Shout-Out: In another case of deadpan snarkery, Hawkeye claims that the calming effect Frank Burns has in Pre-Op is not unlike Dracula showing up at a blood bank.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Lieutenant Smith and the Turkish soldier, for different reasons, do not react appropriately to Hawkeye's speech about the reality of war.Hawkeye: That's twice that didn't work.
- Slipping a Mickey: Hawkeye and Radar use this as a last-ditch effort to get the Turkish soldier back to the operating theater.
- Special Guest: Curt Lowens as the Luxembourg commanding officer
- Stealth Insult: Hawkeye mentions that he and Trapper share a tent with Frank Burns, a family of roaches and a herd of silverfish. Frank is the tall one.
- Threat Backfire: As Klinger carts the Turkish soldier into Pre-Op, Frank orders him one last time to get out of a dress and into a military uniform. The problem for him is that he should have used a better wording.Frank: Klinger! I wanna see you out of that dress - tonight.Klinger: Never on a first date, sir.
- Title Drop: Hawkeye states the episode's name word for word in the opening scene.
- Unexplained Recovery: Trapper can only say "He got better," after Lieutenant LeClerq stumbles out of post-op alive and well.
- Voiceover Letter: Hawkeye narrates yet another message home to his dad, this time via a tape recording.
- White-and-Grey Morality: The tape recorder Hawkeye uses throughout the episode was stolen from the Tokyo PX by one of the camp members.
